AMAZING

Hola Everyone!

 

Mom! Thank you for the package! It was the best!! (: I´ll will try to reply to the letters next P-day!! Seriously everything in it was so great. And my companion is very thankful for the chapstick! I love yoU!

 

Sorry I have almost no time this week. We had a barbeque with members of the rama and we got back late. It was super fun though. I hung out with one of our investigators, Estefanía, who is 9 years old. She is the cutest and she helped me a lot with my spanish. Children are very patient and willing to help you. Well, it has been a rough week but everything is still great. We are really struggling to get any of our investigators to follow through with their appointments. On some days we have 4 or 5 lessons planned and they all fall through. It can be really frustrating but in this work you don´t have time to be what I call Selfishly-Discouraged. You just have to move on and keep working harder than you were before.

 

Although many of our lessons fell through we did have 3 investigators at church which is AMAZING. They were the first ones we´ve had since I´ve been here. One of them we just taught the first lesson the day before, her name is Isabel. We met her when we were door contacting in an apartment building. She told us to come back the following friday at noon. On Saturday after another one of our appointments fell through we decided to go see if another man in her same apartment building was home. After he didn´t answer we both felt like we should go try her door. She was home and let us in and we taught her the first lesson. The spirit was super strong and she really opened up to us about her life. She is an Española and Catolica so it was very surprising she was so nice and willing to listen to us. At the end of the lesson she told us she had really grown to love and care about us the 40 minutes we were there. She is seriously one of the most selflish and amazing people I´ve ever met. We are meeting with her again tomorrow so I hope everything continues to go well.

 

Funny story, every Tuesday we go and eat at Carmelo and Vicky´s house. Carmelo is a member of the branch presidency and they are fantastic cooks. Well, first they served us this delicious lentil soup. We all got very full from that (side note: When a Spaniard asks you if you want more, they are not really asking you, they are telling you. And you HAVE to take more.) Little did we know... that was only the first course. Next was Lasagna. When I found out there was more I couldn´t decide between laughing or crying because I was already so full, but eat is what I ended up doing. After the lasagna... dessert, of course. It was this delicious cheescake with toffee sauce. After I had finished that and was about to explode Carmelo saw that my plate was empty and asked me "¿Quiere mas?" I usually try to politely say no gracias and watch as they serve me more anyways, but this time I looked at my plate and thought "When is Spain..." then I replied "¡Si!" To which everyone at the table started cheering. haha If I gain wait I´m blaming it all on them. haha

 

A little bit more about the missionary life here. In Spain we wake up at 7:30 rather than 6:30, have medio día from 2:30-4:30, then go to bed at 11:30. Instead of having a separate hour for dinner and lunch we just have the two during the middle of the day for medio día. I rather like it. Seriously, If the Spaniards got one thing right, it was medio día.

 

Welp, I´m out of time. Everything is going great and Spanish is "poco a poco."

Sending you all my love,

Hermana Fuller

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY

Hello Everyone!

Every week I probably say this, But I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. I am loving every second that God is giving me to be here in Spain serving others around me. This week hasn´t been the most succesful but it still has been great. I am finally understanding why missionaries say appointments fall through... alot. Because, well, They do. One day this week we had four lessons planned in a row and one righ after the other cancelled. We ending up contacting for about 4 hours. I was okay with that because I love contacting. I´m horrible at Spanish but I don´t have any problem saying "Disculpe, Somos Misioneras!" haha (This creepy guy is sitting next to us at a computer and he keeps smiling at us....haha) Anyways, This week again I want to testify of how much God loves us and that He truly hears and listens to all of our prayers. Not only this, but he also listens to the desires of our hearts and the words we speak. This week during planning we were talking about one of our investigators that is not progressing. She has a difficult sittuation, and her 10 year old son has recently passed away. Usually if an investigator is not progressing you need to drop them. As we were talking about her we both felt like we needed to keep seeing her and just help her in whatever way we could. On our way to her piso she called us and said she couldn´t meet. This is about the third time she had done that this week. A little frusterated I said outloud, "Why did you want us to keep meeting with her, Heavenly Father? Why?" Not kidding, less than 5 minutes later we got another call from her saying we could come over them. After she hung up my hand went up to my mouth and I shockingly said, "He heard me!" I don´t know why that was such a big deal to me but it truly testified to me that God really hears us and takes care of us. He takes care of His missionaries. He takes care of His Saints. He takes care of His Children. We are so blessed to have such a loving and merciful God.

As far as my companion, We are finally getting the hang of working together as a companionship and I can feel success in the distance.Each day I try to work a little harder and be a little better. I don´t let myself get discouraged anymore because there is no time for that. There is no time for feeling sorry for myself. This work is not about me, it´s about my eternal family. I love the people here and I´m doing all I can to communicate with them better and to bless their lives. Thank you for all your prayers. I can feel God strengthening me.

Siempre,

Hermana Ariana Fuller

I AM FINALLY IN THE FIELD

Dear Family and Friends,

I AM FINALLY IN THE FIELD. AND I LOVE IT SO SO MUCH. I am on the coast of Northern Spain in a beautiful city called Gijón. God seriously loves me so much because this is the perfect place for me. I was secretly praying to be sent north. I wanted to come here so badly. As President Jackson was assigning our areas I knew he was going to call my name before he even said it.

 It is very green and is always cloudy or rainy. My companion is Hermana King. She is from Lindon Utah and is 20 years old and went to BYU. She is a great missionary and fluent in the language. She did that program where she took spanish throughout elementary school. I on the other hand am really struggling with spanish. One exciting thing that has happened this week is WE HAD A BAPTISM ON SUNDAY. The baptism was a guy named Felipe who is in the Army. My companion has been teaching him ever since she began her mission. A couple months ago he decided to go on a trip to Utah to practice his english. There he met up with my companions family and spent time with them, going to church and everything. The first time we were meeting with him since he got back was Saturday night. As we were meeting with him, one thing led to another and through the spirit we knew he needed to be baptized soon. We originally challenged him to be baptized on the 14th of this month, but after talking more we decided he needed to be baptized the next sunday morning. Because he needed to be confirmed during sacrament meeting the baptism was held Sunday morming at 9:00 am and the confirmation in sacrament meetin gat 10:30. What an incredible experience I was blessed with just my first week here. 

The branch we have here is very small but very close. There are two elders and 4 hermanas including me and my companion. I love them all. The elders are Elder de Avill from Columbia, Elder Castaldi from Italy, Hermana Diezi from Switzerland, and Hermana Grover from Florida. 

On sunday all of the new missionaries to the branch had to bear our testimonies. I was SO NERVOUS. My spanish is the worst out of everybodys. Even though I couldn´t say much in spanish I felt the spirit so strong as I was bearing my testimony and I knew the members there felt it too. 

I have also gained a strong testimony of fasting since I have been on my mission. I have fasted 4 times in only 7 weeks. The last time was this sunday. I´ve been praying for a testimony of fasting because I never have really gained one. This Sunday I received that testimony so strongly. Not only did we have a baptism but the whole day I was filled with the spirit. I know that if we forget ourselves and give ourselves to God through fasting, we will be filled with His love. It is a very beautiful experience. 

I have loved all of the experiences on my mission so far. God has strengthened me and blessed me so much. I know He hears my prayers because He answers every single one of them. 

Okay now about addresses. My new address is 

Hermana Ariana Fuller

avda. la costa 25, 10ºB

33208 Gijón, Asturias

España

If you sent anything to the mission home I won´t be getting it for a while, sadly. But I apreciate everything you send and write. I love you all and I hope you can feel the love I have for you from miles away. 

Amor,

Hermana Fuller

Officially a Missionary

Dear Parents of Hermana Fuller,

We received your daughter into our mission this morning. We brought her to the Mission Home and fed her lunch. We gave her an overview of the mission and some of the rules and expectations, and spent most of the day with her. She was excited, and seemed ready to get to work.

Later that afternoon, we had a meeting at the Stake Center in Madrid on Temple Square, and met with her trainer to discuss the new 12 week training program. During this 12 week period, your daughter will have an extra hour of companion study each day, and will be given specific things that she must report to the Mission President. We know that this is an inspired program, and will help to make missionaries better teachers and better followers of Christ. Please encourage your daughter in this program. It will help her develop tools that will help her to have a successful mission, and a more successful and fulfilling life after her mission.

Hermana Fuller has been assigned to the city of Gijón, which is on the northern coast of Spain. She will serve with Hermana King, who is from Pleasant Grove, Utah. Hermana King is a happy, obedient missionary, who will be a good first companion for your daughter.

Our Preparation Day is on Monday. Hermana Fuller is instructed to email her immediate family every week. We look forward to getting to know her and working along side her in this great work here in the Spain, Madrid Mission. We can tell she will be a great missionary. Thank you for sharing her with us! We already love her.

Sincerely,

President and Sister Jackson

PS Hermana Fuller will travel by train today, which is about a seven hour train ride. She will arrive in Gijon this evening, meet her companion, and get to work. She will be traveling with Hermana Grover, who also arrived in the Mission yesterday. She is in for a great adventure!

It's our last day in the MTC

Hi mom!

We were allowed to get on really quickly today because it´s our last day at the MTC. Tomorrow I will find out my trainer and first area of my mission. I couldn´t be more excited! Tell grandma thank you for the package she sent me. And thank you for giving her those vitamin packets. I am almost out so include those in whatever you send next! Tell the family hi and thanks for all of the prayers and support. I have to hurry because I have to figure out how to get all of my things re-packed... haha it will be interesting. But tonight we´re having Pizza so everyone is pretty excited for that as well. I also have more pictures to send you! Tell everyone in the family I´d love to hear from them. Also, if you couldn´t get that package sent to Tim that´s alright. Maybe we could save it for Christmas or something. How´s his brother Matthew doing? Well, I am both excited and nervous to get out into the field. I hope everything is going well at home. Have you started any school yet again? I Love You Mom!

Expect an e-mail from me again next monday!!

Love,

Hermana Ariana Fuller